沉

chén
#746 most
frequent character
sink, keep down, lower, deep
verb
adjective

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

沉 chén shows water 氵 with 冗 yín giving the sound; here 冗 stands for a variant of 冘. It first meant lowering cows or sheep into a river as an offering to the water god, so the god could take them. From that came 'to submerge' and 'to sink', then 'heavy', 'to hide' and 'deep'.

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Example Sentences

船沉了。
chuán chén le 。
The ship sank.
他的声音很沉。
tāde shēngyīn hěn chén 。
His voice is very deep.
这块石头很沉。
zhè kuài shítou hěn chén 。
This stone is very heavy.

Words with similar meanings

深shēn
deep
This is more specifically used to describe depth or intensity.
重zhòng
heavy
This directly relates to weight, often used when referring to physical objects.

Homophones

尘chén
dust, dirt, earth
臣chén
state official or subject in dynastic China
晨chén
morning, dawn, daybreak
陈chén
to lay out, to exhibit, to display

Words Starting With 沉

沉默chén mò
silence; uncommunicative
沉思chén sī
contemplate; contemplation; meditation; ponder
沉淀chén diàn
to settle; to precipitate (solid sediment out of a solution)
沉着chén zhuó
steady; calm and collected; not nervous
沉重chén zhòng
heavy; hard; serious; critical

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